1963. A long-standing leader of the movement to end segregation in
Birmingham, Alabama, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth was recognized as a
fearless advocate of racial justice. He was physically assaulted, knocked
unconscious with high-pressure fire hoses, and his home was dynamited
while he slept.
We were a long ways from getting enough people to fill the jails. That's
when we made the decision to let the school children come in. They kept
marching in disciplined arrays, sitting in, demonstrating. I knew we were
wining when I went to court and the judge couldn't sentence me. He said,
"Mr. Shuttlesworth, I regret that because of the overcrowded condition at
jail, we have no place to put you." I said, "Your honor, we're making
progress." The city had me on so many charges: trespass, trespass after
warning, conspiracy to violate a city ordinance, violation of a city
ordinance, and so on. And then they' get me for breach of the peace. I was
never a part of the sit-ins, but I got four convictions out of that.
Several times they put a vagrancy warrant against me to keep me in jail.
But I was a full-time pastor, so after two or three days, they'd charge me
with something else. Many times when I was in a lower court on one charge,
the appellate court would affirm some decision that same day. I was in
jail so many times, I quit counting after twenty. But I knew what they
were doing, and it wasn't going to stop me.